HAPPY CAMPER IN CT
ct
New Member
Joined: 04/19/2008
View Profile
 Offline
|
hello all,
recently bought a 98 fleetwood wilderness fiver. i also bought a truck to pull it and it came with a sleeper cab and a big polished aluminum wing for deflecting air over the camper. i'm not keeping the sleeper cab for sure, but i'm up in the air on whether the wing will benefit me much? i dont plan on doing too much highway driving, mostly back roads to get where i'm going with it. is it really worth it? the one i have cost almost $1000 new with the mounting hardware, and i have other projects for truck and could use cash from selling wing. on other hand , with gas what it is.... anyway i was hoping to get some feedback from guys here who have/had one. thanks
|
jefff929
Pacific wonderland, wet side
Senior Member
Joined: 05/23/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
I have been told that the frontal area is the same so there is no gain in mpg. I might have that wrong, I'm sure an engineer or want-to-be will correct me.
There is a huge difference in stability when you meet a semi at hwy speed on a two lane road. They are good in a cross wind also.
2001 Dodge 2500 QC, Diesel, Auto, 4x4 Shortbox, Stull running boards, 24.5' Prowler 5er
Diesel Bombers My Baby
Another NWBomber
|
Sundowner1
Chesapeake, VA
Senior Member
Joined: 11/21/2006
View Profile
Offline
|
Your choice. I have an Ultra-Fab fiberglass wing and will not tow without it. I have had it on 4 different trucks. I repaint it every time I get a new truck (since 1995)
I can tell a difference in head winds and quarter winds. Also I see about 102 miles per gallon difference. The difference was greater when I was towing with a big block chevy.
Sundowner
04 Chevy 2500HD, Duramax, ext cab, short bed, 4X4
08 Fleetwood Quantum 325RKTS
|
KSadler1
Albuquerque, NM
Senior Member
Joined: 05/30/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
Sundowner1 wrote:Also I see about 102 miles per gallon difference. The difference was greater when I was towing with a big block chevy.
Sundowner
I'm guessing you meant 102 miles per tank? If not, sign me up for one.....
Ken
|
jefff929
Pacific wonderland, wet side
Senior Member
Joined: 05/23/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
Sundowner1 wrote:Your choice. I have an Ultra-Fab fiberglass wing and will not tow without it. I have had it on 4 different trucks. I repaint it every time I get a new truck (since 1995)
snip I too have an Ultra-fab.
Are you saying you notice an mpg difference? I don't really see one.
|
|
|
skipnchar
Topeka Kansas USA
Senior Member
Joined: 12/17/2003
View Profile
|
If you got it for free you'll no doubt recoup your investment fairly shortly. If you PAID for it it'll take a lot longer though. Truckers get good benefit from them due to the many thousands of miles they drive each year. If they only drove 10,000 or 15,000 miles a year they wouldn't invest in deflectors either.
2004 F-150 HD 3,050 lb. payload
Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
We have enough YOUTH...how about a fountain of SMART
|
portablevcb
Tijeras, NM
Senior Member
Joined: 05/04/2006
View Profile
Offline
|
Part of the deflector's efficiency is how close it is to the trailer, and, how bad your trailer is to start with. The better the trailer is aerodynamically, the less (if any) gain you would see from a deflector. They are also sensitive to angle and how far it is from the windshield to the deflector. The airflow from windshield over the roof varies depending on a lot of factors and will determine where the best place is to put it. I do know of one person who got worse mileage no matter what he did with it.
FWIW, when determining fuels savings for diesel rigs back in the 70's (during the 'first' gas crunch) the most dramatic change was to simply 'round off' the corners of the trucks and trailers. A 6" radius curve was determined to be best compromise between cargo capacity, manufacturing difficulty and mileage. If you look at newer MH's and buses you'll see that radius used often.
If you are going to put a lot of miles on towing then try it both ways and see what the difference is. I'd drive with it for an hour out and then back and measure mileage. Then do it again without. Then decide if you want the $1000 now, or will gain back that $1000 in a couple of years.
charlie
2006 Toyota Tundra Crew Cab
2003 Skyline Nomad 24ft Fiver
|
DFH-GMC
Texas
Full Member
Joined: 02/20/2005
View Profile
Offline
|
It will keep a lot of bugs off of your 5vr
03 GMC Sierra
07 KZ 2505QSS-F
|
Darryl&Rita
Grande Prairie, Alberta
New Member
Joined: 03/15/2006
View Profile
Offline
|
Best value is bug deflector, but it is easier to clean front of 5er from truck bed, than air deflector from ground. I'm over 6' 7" and let the deflector go with my last truck.
Old 78 SRW F350 w/460 54 miles pulling a new(to us)98 28 foot citation 5'er
|
HAPPY CAMPER IN CT
ct
New Member
Joined: 04/19/2008
View Profile
Offline
|
i'll be lucky to put 1000-1500 miles on this in a year, probably 20% of it highway, so based on everything i've read, probably not going to make much difference either way.
|
|
|
